Vo}arstvo, 41, 157–158 (2007) 41–44 UDK: 634.1.22;632.

1:3
Journal of Pomology, 41, 157–158 (2007) 41–44 Originalan nau~ni rad
Original scientific paper

Vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plum cultivar ^a~anska Rodna

in Troyan region

Hristina Dinkova, Ivan Minev, Teodora Stoyanova

Research Institute of Mountain Stockbreeding and Agriculture, Troyan, Bulgaria
E-mail: kris05@abv.bg

Received 31 August, 2006; accepted 6 February, 2007

Abstract. Biological and morphological characteristics of the tree were studied, and a characterisation of the
fruits was performed as well. The trees formed a moderately growing, widely open crown. The fertility was lav-
ish. The fruits are blue in colour, oval-shaped, slightly flattened sidelong, with an attractive appearance. In the
region where they were studied, they ripened in mid-August, producing fruits with a mean weight of 29 g. The
quality of the fruit was very good; the content of the sugars was 11.48%, the stone was weighing 1.4 g and was
separating. Another characteristic of the trees is that they were strongly infested by Plum pox virus (PPV), and
the symptoms were visible on the leaves. The fruits, however, reached the picking ripeness without a deteriora-
tion of the taste qualities and without showing any characteristic symptoms of the disease themselves. This cul-
tivar was slightly infested by the late brown root, red leaf spots and shot hole.

Key words: plums, cultivars, fruit quality, diseases.

Introduction cultivar ^a~anska Rodna under the conditions of the

At the world market, there is an unlimited demand for
plum fruits having the qualities of cv Kystendilska
Sinya Sliva. The fruits of cv ^a~anska Rodna have si-
milar qualities, which maintains the interest of plum
growers for it. Because of the wide presence of the
plum pox disease and the impossibility to grow Kyus-
tendilska Sliva, alternative cultivars are searched for,
which are suitable for contemporary plum production
(Dragoyski et al., 1990, 2002; Minev et al., 1995). The
genetic traits of the plum cultivars exerted a decisive
influence on their biological and reproductive charac-
teristics, but their expression also depends to a great
extent on the soil and climatic conditions of their gro-
wing region (Iliev et al., 1977).
Having this in mind, our objective was to study the
vegetative and reproductive characteristics of the plum
Troyan region, the main plum-producing region of our
country.
Material and Methods
The study was conducted in a plum collection planta-
tion established in 1994 with the cultivars Stanley and
^a~anska Rodna engrafted on rootstock Yellow Myro-
balan. The trees were planted at 6/4 m spacing and tra-
ined by the freely growing system. The plantation slo-
pe varies from 3 to 8°, which necessitates antierosion
sodding of interrow spacing. The following characteri-
stics were studied: vegetative – trunk section (cm2),
height (H), average diameter (d) and crown volume
(V) of the trees (calculated by the formula V = π d2 H
/ 12 m3), annual growth (average number of branches,

41
average length of 1 branch and total growth) measured Tab. 2. Annual growth in 2003–2004
once at the end of vegetation on previously marked Godi{nji rast u periodu 2003–2004. god.
trees and reproductive – phenological calendar, yield, Average number Average length Total
weight and size of 1 fruit and 1 stone and fruit qualiti- Cultivar of annual branches of one branch growth
es (Nedev et al., 1979). The cultivar reaction to the fol- Sorta Prose~an broj Prose~na du`ina Ukupan
lowing economically more important diseases was ob- jednogodi{njih gran~ica jedne gran~ice porast
(cm) (cm)
served: plum pox (Plum pox virus), red leaf spots (Po- ______________________________________________________
listigma rubrum), rust (Puccinia pruni spinosae), shot ^a~anska Rodna 25.2 17.56 442.5
hole (Stigmina carpophila) and brown fruit rot (Mo- Stanley - control 23.0 20.88 480.2
______________________________________________________
nilinia fructigena). The cultivar Stanley was used as a
control. The plantation was at the beginning of quickly ^a~anska Rodna is distinguished for a softer wood
increasing fruiting and grown without irrigation. The than the other plum cultivars, including cv Stanley. Ne-
agricultural practices for its maintenance were applied vertheless in the years of observation no broken bran-
according to the generally adopted technology for ches under the weight of the fruit load were recorded.
plum fruit production with reduced plant protection During the first fruiting years the yields of cv
against plum fruit borer (Hoplocampa minuta Christ.) ^a~anska Rodna were lower, as compared to cv Stan-
and plum fruit worm (Laspeyresia funebrana). The ley, but at the age of 10 years on average 13.23% mo-
studies were conducted according to the Methodology re fruits per tree were obtained than the control (Tab.
for studying the plant resources in fruit species (Nedev 3). It was impressive that the wood productivity of this
et al., 1979). cultivar was higher, as compared to cv Stanley, which

Tab. 3. Yield of plum cultivars ^a~anska Rodna and Stanley for the
Results and Discussion period 2002–2004
Prinos sorti ^a~anska rodna i Stenli u periodu 2002–2004. god.
The major characteristics of the growth vigour are ______________________________________________________
trunk section and crown volume. The studied 8-year Year ^a~anska Rodna Stanley
trees of cultivar ^a~anska Rodna had a trunk section Godina kg/tree kg/cm2 kg/m3 kg/tree kg/cm2 kg/m3
______________________________________________________
of 104.28 cm². The tree sizes of this cultivar were re-
latively smaller, as compared to Stanley (Tab. 1). 2002 33.0 0.283 2.07 56.0 0.418 2.76
2003 38.0 0.364 3.33 46.0 0.275 2.12
2004 80.4 0.771 7.05 71.0 0.542 4.03
Tab. 1. Relevant parameters of 8-year trees Σ yield 151.4 – – 173.0 – –
Relevantni parametri osmogodi{njih stabala Σ prinosa
______________________________________________________
Average Crown
Trunk section diameter volume was evident in the yields per square centimetre of
Cultivar Povr{ina preseka Height Prose~an Zapremina
Sorta debla Visina pre~nik krune trunk and per cubic metre of crowns.
(cm²) (cm) (cm) (m³) The fruits reached picking maturity in the third ten-
______________________________________________________
day period of August, 2–3 days before those of cv Stan-
^a~anska Rodna 104.28 370 318 9.79
Stanley 131.06 406 399 16.91 ley. Their skin is dark-blue coloured. They are oval-
______________________________________________________ shaped, slightly flattened on the sides. The abdominal
suture is on the surface. The fruit flesh is greenish-whi-
They had an average height of 370 cm and an ave- tish, tender, a little sour, sweet, juicy, with an aroma.
rage diameter of 318 cm, so their crowns had a wide- The freestone is 1,4 g in weight. The fruit is 29,7 g in
oval shape. The crown volume was also relatively weight and is not inferior to Stanley in size (Tab. 4).
smaller – by 35.26%, as compared to cv Stanley. That
allowed using smaller planting spacing than those re- Tab. 4. Average size, weight of fruit and ripening time
commended for cv Stanley, i.e. the cultivar is adapted Prose~na veli~ina, masa ploda i vreme zrenja
to the establishment of semi- and intensive plum plan- Stalk
tations. The cultivar had moderate bud revival and length Ripening
Cultivar Height Width Thickness Du`ina Weight time
branching of the annual growth, so the crowns were Sorta Visina [irina Debljina peteljke Masa Vreme
loose. The number of annual branches of cv ^a~anska (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (g) zrenja
Rodna was greater than cv Stanley and their average ^a~anska
length was smaller, hence the total growth of the stu- Rodna 43.9 33.2 37.2 16.9 29.7 20–30. 08.
died cultivar was smaller than the control (Tab. 2). Stanley 44.7 33.6 34.8 15.3 34.8 25. 08–05. 09.
______________________________________________________

42
 In years characterized by frequent rainfalls during Analyzing the data of this study, it was found that
the period of fruit maturity there were cracks of the the index of attack by rust (Puccinia pruni spinosae)
fruit skin and fruit flesh in a number of recognized cul- on cv ^a~anska Rodna (0.84%) had the same value as
tivars, but similar damages to cv ^a~anska Rodna we- that measured in the control treatment with cv Stanley.
re not observed. In both varieties the differences were significant. The
The content of total sugars in fresh fruits was studied cultivar showed low susceptibility to shot hole
10.70% and those of inverted sugar and saccharose (Stigmina carpophila) (0.25%) (Tab. 6).
were 7.82 and 2.74%, respectively (Tab. 5). When grown near to trees infected with Plum pox
virus, cv ^a~anska Rodna is susceptible to the disease.
Tab. 5. Chemical composition of fresh fruits The leaf symptoms were characteristic, very pronoun-
Hemijski sastav sve`ih plodova ced and covered the whole tree crown. The fruits had
______________________________________________________
not the characteristic concavities of the disease and re-
Dry Total Inverted
Cultivar matter sugars sugar ached picking maturity without dropping and decrea-
Sorta Suve Ukupni Invertni Saccharose Acids Tannins sing their palatability.
materije {e}eri {e}er Saharoza Kiseline Tanini
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
______________________________________________________
^a~anska Conclusion
Rodna 23.80 11.48 8.50 2.74 0.55 0.171
Stanley 20.05 11.69 8.22 3.30 0.62 0.181
______________________________________________________
The studies showed that cv ^a~anska Rodna found su-
itable soil and climatic conditions for growing in the
Troyan region. The trees had optimum growth and al-
The flowering of cv ^a~anska Rodna is mid-early. lowed obtaining yields of about 2000 kg/da. The
Usually it occurs in the first half of April in the studi- crowns had smaller size than cv Stanley and could be
ed region, partially coinciding with that of cv Stanley. planted more densely.
The cultivar is self-fertile. The fruits reached picking maturity on 20–30 Au-
During the study period there were no damages to gust. The cultivar deserves attention for its tolerance to
cv ^a~anska Rodna caused by red leaf spots (Polistig- economically important fungal diseases in plum. The
ma rubrum), which determines it as disease tolerant. reaction to the Plum pox virus allows its successful
In more humid years with favourable conditions for growing in regions with PPV infection.
disease development there were only single spots (the
recorded index of attack was 0.07%) (Tab. 6). No da-
mages of economic significance caused by late brown References
rot (Monilinia fructigena) were recorded.
Dragoiski K., Minev I., Mondeshka P., Dinkova H., Mihovska B.
Tab. 6. Index of infection (%) by fungal diseases (1990): Work to PPV in Research Institute of Mountain Stoc-
Indeks zaraze (%) gljivi~nim obolenjima kbreeding and Agriculture Troian. Plant Scence, 4: 10–15.
______________________________________________________
Dragoiski K., Dinkova H., Minev I. (2002): Rate of PPV infection
Rust Shot hole Red leaf spots
R|a Rupi~avost li{}a Plamenja~a of some plum cultivars depending on the rootstock and manage-
Cultivar (Puccinia pruni (Stigmina (Polistigma ment systems. Acta Horticulturae, 577: 263–268.
Sorta spinosae) carpophila) rubrum) Iliev I., Vitanov M., Yoncheva M., Belyakov V. (1977): Plum. Publ.
______________________________________________________
Hristo G. Danov, Plovdiv, pp. 3–55.
^a~anska Rodna Minev I., Dragoiski K. (1995): Interspecific hybrds of genus Prunus
Average/Prosek 0.84 0.25 0.07 with a hide field resistance to Plum pox virus. Plant Scence, 4:
______________________________________________________
42–43.
SD 0.50 0.44 0.27
______________________________________________________ Nedev N., Grigorov Y., Baev H., Serafimov S., Strandzhev A., Ka-
Stanley vardzhikov L., Lazarov K., Nikolov N., Dzhouvinov V., Popova
Average/Prosek 0.84 0.21 0.11 L., Slavov N., Iliev P., Stoyanov D., Kunev I., Krinkov H., Vis-
______________________________________________________
hanska Y., Topchiyska M. (1979): Methods of studying plant re-
SD 0.57 0.41 0.32 sources of fruit species. Fruit-growing Research Institute, Plov-
______________________________________________________
div, pp. 1–151.

43
VEGETATIVNE I REPRODUKTIVNE KARAKTERISTIKE SORTE [LJIVE ^A^ANSKA RODNA U
OBLASTI TROJAN

Hristina Dinkova, Ivan Minev, Teodora Stoyanova

Institut za istra`ivanja u poljoprivredi i planinskom sto~arstvu, Trojan, Bugarska
E-mail: kris05@abv.bg

Rezime

Prou~avane su bilo{ke i morfolo{ke karakteristike sta-
bla, a tako|e je izvr{ena i karakterizacija plodova. Sta-
bla su formirala krunu umerenog rasta, {iroko otvore-
nog oblika. Bujnost je bila izuzetna. Plodovi su plave
boje, ovalnog oblika, blago, bo~no zaravnjeni, atrak-
tivnog izgleda. U regionu u kome su vr{ena prou~a-
vanja, plodovi su sazrevali sredinom avgusta, i imali
prose~nu te`inu od 29 g.
Kvalitet plodova je bio jako dobar. Sadr`aj {e}era
je iznosio 11,48%, dok se ko{tica odvajala i imala pro-
se~nu te`inu od 1,4 g.
Stabla su bila u velikoj meri zara`ena virusom {ar-
ke (Plum pox virus, PPV), ~iji su simptomi bili vidlji-
vi na listovima. Sa druge strane, plodovi su dostigli
zrelost branja, pri ~emu nisu izgubili na kvalitetu uku-
sa nisu pokazali nikakve karakteristi~ne simptome ove
bolesti. Kod ove sorte je zapa`ena slaba pojava trule`i
plodova, plamenja~e i rupi~avosti li{}a.
Klju~ne re~i: {ljive, sorte, kvalitet vo}a, bolesti.
Author’s address:
Dr Hristina Dinkova
Research Institute of Mountain Stockbreeding
and Agriculture
281, Vasil Levski Str.
Troyan 5600
Bulgaria

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